


sea glass

by glimmerFae (harmicist)



Series: Wet and Wild [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Commander McCree, Blackwatch Era, Developing Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Genji's run in with his brother, Leans a lot more heavily on McGenji, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Romance, Worldbuilding, merman au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28625694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmicist/pseuds/glimmerFae
Summary: “Join me?” Jesse asks, arms crossing over the side of the pool and looking up at Genji.The cyborg removes his mask, a bit embarrassed as he sets it to the side. “I think Dr. Ziegler would have a lot of questions if I needed her help drying off so soon after our last mission.”“You can always ask me for help,” McCree intones lowly, and Genji laughs.“You aren’t familiar with the design of the prosthetics.”“Not yet, I’m not.”Following the attempted destruction of Overwatch at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Jesse and Genji start coming to terms with each other and what it is they want, even if they don't have it in them to say it all out loud.Directly follows 'after your lips turn blue.'  (Jesse McCree is a siren but didn't know it until much later in life AU).
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Genji Shimada, Jesse McCree/Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Jesse McCree/Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Genji Shimada
Series: Wet and Wild [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097567
Kudos: 14





	sea glass

**Author's Note:**

> Brief warning for descriptions of injuries that hanzo gave Genji, description of brief character drowning.
> 
> This is mostly a mcgenji fic thats setup for another mcreyji work in this same au. If you haven't read "after your lips turn blue," but the concept of mccree being a mermaid (and not knowing it until very recently) in BW proper sounds cool as hell enough to click on this fic, I'd recommend starting there.

Jesse is allowed out of the medical bay before Gabriel is. If it wouldn’t cause alarm, he’d be drinking water at every opportunity, but none aside from Genji understand why he’s so thirsty. They are finally hidden away from sight, back in the office.

He downs half the bottle, and then douses himself in the other half, letting it soak into his clothes, puddle around his feet as it trickles down. “God, why didn't they warn me about this? Being a siren is so fucking overrated.” Jesse pants, Genji sitting next to him in the Blackwatch office that had once been Gabriel’s.

Gabriel’s things had already been neatly boxed away, and Jesse is doing the best he can to make sure that he’s feeling better, like the space is his, like the position really is his.

“I don’t know,” Genji shrugs, sitting on the couch. “Frankly, I could understand that they might feel a little weird having to explain basics. If someone waving around a dragon didn’t know that they had to feed them, I wouldn’t have thought to tell them.”

Jesse thinks on that, and nods. “Yeah, that checks out. God. Why do I have to be so busy at night?"

Genji rewards the stupid question with a tilt of his head, face hidden behind the chrome mask. “Because someone doesn’t have a second on staff.”

With a withering look, Jesse scoffs. “It’s better like this for now. Blackwatch is fucked up, and clearing out house has put a huge strain on my other agents. They don’t know what’s been going on, and I can’t just tell them. I’m not sure who the fuck I’d pick to be my second anyway.” He sighs, looks at Genji.

That’s a lie- a huge one. He’s a good liar; he’s always known that, good at bluffing and keeping his cards tight against his chest. Genji absolutely would have been his number one choice for a second in command.

Jesse doesn’t say as much, he just thinks it viciously. Without Gabe, Genji is his top choice. It was like that before and Jesse finds he prefers the familiar in these strange times.

But he won’t ask the man back into his ranks. He gets it- he does. The need for a new persona, the need for change; he worries that inviting Genji back will send their relationship backwards, not forwards.

Genji interrupts his thoughts by putting his hand over the papers that he was working on- yet another mission overview that required his expertise in Blackwatch to make sure things weren’t going to blow up in their faces. “You’ve been working at that long enough. You just survived an explosion meant to kill you and Morrison. Morrison was lucky enough not to have been on base, but you have been running yourself ragged. Listen to your body.”

McCree quirks his lips into a smile, “I don’t think we have time for that, considering how Talon’s definitely going to try again.”

Genji moves his hand from the paper, to Jesse’s own, squeezing it softly. “You can spare a moment to go to the pool, Jesse. You keep drinking water like that and you’re going to get water poisoning.”

Jesse scoffs, but lets himself be convinced to stand. “Fine, fine. I’ll let you convince me. You just want to see me up close, though. Don’t lie.”

Genji’s expression is unreadable behind his mask, but there’s a cheeky tone when he responds. “I _am_ curious, McCree. I think your other form is quite…beautiful, really. But I’ve only seen the top half, and the rest under duress.” He admits, tilting his head.

Jesse rubs his neck, bashful. “Baptiste told me that the tail meant that I was a siren. Warning colors like red, black, yellow and white are almost always sirens, according to Olivia.” He explains what he learned as the two of them head out of Jesse’s office.

“Isn’t siren a synonym for mermaid?” Genji asks, a bit confused, and Jesse shrugs.

“Like, if a human uses it in English, yeah, it is, but according to them, there’s a distinction in the mer tongue best represented by the representation of siren in a lotta myths.” Jesse itches dry skin. “Which was trippy as hell to learn. Apparently there’s a mer tongue and we use it unconsciously when we’re underwater. Freaky. Makes sense though, since we turn off our lungs and airway to use our gills instead. Once Olivia pointed it out, I couldn’t stop hearing those clicks and clacks.” He laughs, shaking his head. “God. I can’t believe I lived my entire life without knowing. And I knew a whole other language without even realizing it.”

Genji could only imagine the terror of waking up with a dragon sharing your soul with you, both apart of you and an extension of you. He envisions it’s similar to how McCree feels with his fins.

They reach the pool, and McCree takes in a deep breath, before making a face.

“Gross, chlorine.” He grumbles, removing his shirt.

“I thought you had started to like the pool.” Genji remarks, and Jesse gives a crooked grin.

“The water? Sure. The chemicals? Absolutely not. My nose has only gotten stronger, and after getting so used to the ocean, the chlorine itches my gills.” He complains, dramatic. Genji chuckles as the man removes his pants in one swoop, before diving in.

The change happens quickly. Far quicker than Genji had seen it occur before, in reverse. One second he was human, and the next second he was lengthened and merman. The man breaks the surface, giving Genji a fanged smile as he gets near the pool’s edge.

“Join me?” Jesse asks, arms crossing over the side of the pool and looking up at Genji.

The cyborg removes his mask, a bit embarrassed as he sets it to the side. “I think Dr. Ziegler would have a lot of questions if I needed her help drying off so soon after our last mission.”

“You can always ask me for help,” McCree intones lowly, and Genji laughs.

“You aren’t familiar with the design of the prosthetics.”

“Not yet, I’m not.”

Still, Genji dips his legs in the pool, and McCree gives a joyous sigh as he leans back in the water, staring up at the ceiling, his long tail free flowing in the water, stretched out on the surface, and even more below.

The sound reverberates in the water, and sends shivers up his spine. “Sirens are known for singing, aren’t they?” Genji asks, curious, remembering all too well the scream that broke the world around them as well as the cloying sticky honey melody from the grotto.

“Apparently so.” McCree agrees, stretching his back out. “Can’t say I understand it. Baptiste and Olivia were sparse with details aside from saying I had a lot of power inside me.”

“How come nobody ever noticed?” Genji asks, curiosity getting to the better of him. “Angela mentioned you weren’t a good swimmer, so I assume you did tests.”

Jesse chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was raised in the desert. Orphaned there too. It was hard to describe the feeling being around water had. Made me nauseous and extremely hyped up. I guess people assumed it was a stress response. Maybe they thought I’d had some bad experience with it as a youngin.” He pauses, and sits up entirely. “I don’t think being in water alone is what changes us. We have to want the change. Back when I was in training, I was pretty fed up with change. In places like Gibraltar, or hell, even in Rome and Hanamura, there was always this _thrum_ in the back of my head. I actually think its part of why I drank and smoked so much? To drown it out.”

Webbed fingers run along the water’s surface as he thinks on that. Genji can sympathize, the water lapping against his legs.

“When will Reyes get out of medical?” Genji asks, and Jesse makes a soft noise, sinking down so that only his eyes are out of the water, before he pushes himself up to speak again.

“Frankly, I unno. I don’t think Jack or I know what to do with him, but we aren’t gonna put him in a cell when he’s been out of it most of the time since the attack.”

Genji is quiet, and he reaches over to console Jesse, rubbing fingers through wet hair. “He’s alive. He will recover.”

Jesse’s eyes are distant, and there’s a storm behind the expression. Jesse told Genji that Gabe had died. But Jesse brought him back.

Genji knows Jesse doesn’t want to admit it- but he’s worried about Gabriel. He wants Gabriel close, thinks that if he’s kept away it’ll just happen again. He can only partially envision the horror of pulling someone you care for so deeply out from the grave, and having to put them back in the same situation again.

Gabriel hasn’t woken up yet. Jesse doesn't like admitting it, because he can tell Angela is gearing up for a worse conversation. A conversation she’s already had with Jack, if the time the man spends at the medical bay isn’t proof enough.

Moira’s confounded, because she can’t reach him at all. Sojourn’s stated as much.

“I hope so.” Jesse murmurs, pensive, and Genji leans down, and pulls him in for a hug.

It’s still novel- being able to hold Jesse like this and not be pushed away.  
  
“Maybe he just needs something like water.” Genji suggests as his dragon supplies him with ideas about how to help a merfolk’s gifted.

Jesse sits up straight, looking at him with enormous eyes. “Actually,” He pushes upwards, getting out of the pool. “That’s not a bad idea. Might be hard to do, but it’s the middle of the night.” Jesse rubs his chin as his form melts back to skin, the man getting up and dressing quickly, wet feet slapping against the floor.

Genji reels a little from how quickly Jesse had latched onto the idea, but he’s supportive of the man. Plus, he has the feeling it will be fascinating to watch him fix Gabriel, if he’s able to as his dragon suggests.

Jesse drinks his water, making a face as he shakes off his hair, and takes off with a brisk pace to medical.

XXXXX

Gabe isn’t alone.

He stops in his tracks, Genji running into him but just agile enough to catch himself.

One of the… weirder side effects of his _transformation_ … was his sudden ability to see in the dark. It made sense, given how dark the ocean was, but it was still utterly strange to see people go from bright and colorful to grey and white blobs whose warmer bits shone a little.

Olivia had mentioned he’d be able to bring his abilities on land. He guesses this is what she meant.

Jack Morrison sits at Gabriel’s bedside. Jesse feels a possessive instinct in him rise up, and forces it back down. He can also feel teeth in his mouth, but he licks them away, refusing to be jealous.

Gabriel loves him. He said as much on his dying breath. The apology was also something he doubts Jack Morrison ever would get. He waits a long moment, waiting to get caught, but nothing happens.

Then Jack snores, and Jesse relaxes entirely. “Alright. We just have to be quiet.” He whispers to Genji. “Jack’s sleeping.”

Genji says nothing, but Jesse can see a little hesitation in his eyes that is quickly covered over by his usual confidence on stealth missions.

He’s never had the opportunity to test his skills against Morrison’s superior senses, and it’s obvious he’s more than up for the challenge.

They sneak inside, and go the long way around Morrison, keeping a careful eye on his expression. Gabriel is peacefully sleeping, his breathing even, and the thing on his chest completely invisible.

Huh. He’d wondered how the others hadn’t seen it. Apparently it wasn’t always visible. They get to the other side of Gabriel’s bed, and Morrison is still zonked out. Jesse doesn’t even take the time to breathe a sigh of relief- that’s asking to be caught. He takes Gabriel’s upper half, and Genji grabs his legs, and together they slowly sneak out with him in tow.

Jesse throws a quick glance over his shoulder, and relaxes as he sees that Jack hasn’t moved and furthermore, snores again.

“So we’ll need to be quick,” Jesse murmurs, hoisting Gabriel into his arms completely. “No time to waste. Let’s mosey.” Genji raises an eyebrow at the word, and Jesse flushes a bit, unable to rub his neck, but they set off quickly, Genji taking the lead through the hallways of Zurich at night.

XXXXX

They make it back to the pool in record time, and Jesse lowers Gabriel to the floor, before stripping again, clothes clinging to his wet skin making the process a bit harder than it needed to be. Genji watches the door; but his eyes flick back and forth to Jesse before the man dove headfirst, letting the transformation wash over him with the water.

He breaks the surface, laughing joyously, because it just felt _that good_ to be in this skin again. Genji can’t keep his eyes off him, and he gestures Genji over. “Let’s get him in the water,” Jesse says, and Genji nods, grabbing Gabe’s shoulders while Jesse drags his legs over from the pool- a pretty bad vantage point.

It takes a moment, but then Gabriel’s limp body splashes as the two jostle him into the water, Jesse grabbing him and holding him upright, squeezing him tight.

The water glows with the mark on Gabriel’s chest, and something in Jesse’s chest settles at the sight.

The heartbeat is enough for him, his clawed and webbed hand splayed against Gabriel’s chest to make sure it was still there.

Slowly, he sinks down, his head tilting forward as he kisses Gabriel passionately, just as he had when he’d ripped Gabriel’s life back from the sea that had uncaringly taken what was his.

They are both beneath the surface, and Gabriel’s heartbeat is fine in spite of being underwater. A tender hand goes to Gabriel’s neck to be sure, and there are gills that run up the sides.

Soft, in this underwater world that sparkled with Jesse’s scales, Gabriel perks up ever so subtly, and kisses back, hands going from limp to holding Jesse back.

The dream doesn’t last long, because Gabriel wakes up properly with a bang, eyes opening wide and jerking to life.

Red eyes meet brown, and Jesse lets Gabriel go, the two men floating ethereally in the water, which reverberated Gabriel’s panic at being underwater.

 _“It’s fine.”_ Jesse says, recognizing now this wasn’t English he was using, but mer. _“You’re still breathing, Gabe.”_

Gabriel looks at him with enormous eyes, hand going to his throat, obviously not feeling himself breathing, and finding gills when he feels too long. He lets out a vicious noise of panic, and Jesse held out a hand to him calmly, not wanting to crowd him.

 _“We can surface whenever you’re ready, Gabe.”_ Jesse reassures him, and Gabriel tilts his head as his form stills.

 _“Jesse?”_ Gabriel says, finally calming as he swims forward, looking him up and down. “ _Is this a dream?”_

 _“Not a dream.”_ Jesse disagrees, taking Gabriel back in his arms in the next moment, feeling Gabriel tense, and then relax. “ _Just a weird reality. Hold your breath, it’ll make using your lungs again easier.”_

It’s a blessing that Gabriel doesn’t question it in spite of the unease in his expression. Jesse pushes them upwards with a powerful thrust, breaking the waters reflective surface.

Morrison stands there slack-jawed, Genji holding him back in a grapple, and Jesse can only stare owlishly with as Gabriel breathes more normally after a few moments of panic, his gills vanishing into his skin. “Jesse?” Jack asks, mind clearly bending at the revelation. “What the fuck?”

“Uh,” Jesse looks at him with wide eyes. “Hey.” He says, sounding calmer than he’s feeling as Genji lets Jack go, unable to stop him.

Jack approaches the water, looking over the pool edge, and he stares for a long time, holding his breath. He looks at McCree’s form up, and then down, as if in disbelief, and both Jesse and Genji are silent, Gabriel shivering against Jesse’s skin.

“You’re a _siren_?” Jack asks, bewildered, and both Genji and McCree look at each other, confusion only growing.

Jesse's mind blanks as he nods, dumbly. “Uh, apparently.” He shrugs, rubbing his neck awkwardly, scratching his webbing on his hair accidentally. “How do you know that?”

Jack takes off the strike commander coat, and then removes his shirt, before he jumps in the pool with him.

What surfaces where Jack dove almost makes him scream. Big black eyes, and mottled greenish grey skin replace the man’s usual sunny blonde looks. He doesn’t click, or make any of the noises Jesse had heard from Olivia or Baptiste. He simply stares; his tail shorter and thicker than his was by far, beating powerfully underneath him.

The words sound wrong. “ _No wonder we butt heads so much when you were younger,”_ Jack rasps. “ _And it makes sense why Ana took such a shining to you, siren.”_

“ _You’re also a merman?”_ Jesse clicks, and Jack rubs his ears, making a displeased sound.

“ _Obviously?”_ He gestures up and down his body.

“I’d like to know what’s going on here,” Genji says, and both Jesse and Jack snap their attention to him, switching back to English.

“Ah, sorry, Genji,” Jack forces out, the sound strange to McCree’s ears. “It’s natural to us. McCree, how, what, how long have you known? Did Ana know?”

“I uh,” He rubs his neck, as Gabriel finally manages to turn around, and Jack’s eyes fucking bulge. “I didn’t know until after I fell off the cliff. Was- was Ana also…?”

Jack nods, dumbfounded, before he saddened somewhat. “Yeah, she was, Fareeha is too. McCree- why’s Gabe’s chest glowing?”

McCree and Genji both look to the chest, and Gabriel looks down as he touches it reverently. “Uhm.” He feels stupid for being so fucking erudite right now. “That was from me, I think. When I took him back from the ocean.”

Jack sinks then, and Jesse reaches out with a panicked hand, holding him steady. He jolts upright. “You’re a _fucking_ siren and you _gave_ him a mermaid’s kiss?” He treads water, looking at the mark on Gabriel’s chest incredulously. “You realize that this kind of thing is _beyond_ rare, right? It’s outright mythical.”

“So I’ve been told.” Jesse agrees, licking his lips. “I’ve been told I was a bit of an…outlier. In terms of power.”

Jack hisses with incredulity, hands waving at the mark, before he lets Gabriel go to examine Jesse, swimming around him in a flurry that stirs the water enough for Jesse to be spun with it. He puts it together faster than Genji had. “Your ‘boyfriend’- he was a merman.” Jack states, stopping in the water altogether as he puts it together. “Jesus. That must have been a rude awakening. Finding out after 30 years? I got the talk from my dad at 10 on a fishing trip. Was far weirder than the one I thought I was gonna get.”

“There’s a talk?” The idea is completely foreign. Gabriel seems just as much of a stranger, touching Jack’s skin and Jesse’s scales, red eyes wide and his mouth agape.

“Let’s…let’s get out of the water. And we’ll all talk.” Jack says, giving Gabriel a quiet look, heading to the stairs with Gabriel.

Jesse nods, and Genji offers him a hand lifting Gabriel out of the water, the man looking all too much like a wet cat as Genji was the one to assist him while Jesse and Jack transform back. While Baptiste had looked like he’d just shimmied out of his scales like he was removing pants, Jack looks all too much like he was shedding skin, his skin returning back to its peachy color. McCree also loses the tail; red and black scales vanishing as he gets out of the pool.

Jack frowns, realizing he’d torn his pants in his haste as he holds his coat and shirt.

Jesse hands him a towel, putting back on his clothes easily. “No one else is around this time of night, I’ve figured that out.” He stretches, drinking water quickly and giving Gabriel the spare bottle, the other man fumbling with it, before turning it over in his hands in confusion. “Drink that, Gabe. Otherwise your skin will itch.”

Gabriel is all around too quiet, but he closes in to Jesse’s space and relaxes, Genji taking up the spot next to Jesse while Jack makes do with a towel, the 4 of them heading back to the Strike Commander’s quarters.

XXXXX

Jack’s quarters are strange to Jesse- strikingly unlived in- and that’s before Jack reveals the secret panel in the back that reveals an indoor pond. Jesse makes a face, uncertain that he’d be able to swim in it at all, before recalling how much smaller Jack had been in the water.

It also immediately feels a lot better, and Genji shifts, a bit uncomfortable. “It’s very humid in here.” He comments, and Jack nods.

“People would find it weird if I was always drinking water. Most people assume that you’re just drinking whiskey, same as usual, McCree.” Jack explains, ushering them into his space. He presses another pad, and another wall comes down, and the pond expands a bit.

It still isn’t big enough for Jesse, but it peers into a room that instantly hurt to see.

Ana’s forgotten quarters, neatly packaged into boxes. Tucked away like the rest of Ana, like Ana was just something to pack up and leave behind because it was time to move on.

Jack drops the towel around his waist, and gets dressed in his clothes, before settling along the edge of the pond, and gesturing for them all to sit down. “This room was our sanctuary. Took time to make. The humidifiers alone were a bitch to set up, never mind the pool.”

Gabriel seems just as wide-eyed about it. “I never knew.” He stammers- the first thing he’s said since he surfaced.

“We hid it from you.” Jack spreads his fingers on the rock. “It was better, that way. It needs to be kept secret. Torb figured us out fast, something to do with his family’s stories, which was fine, in the end. We needed his help to build this place. There are far less mer than humans in the world. Less every year, even, as depressing as that is to say. Lots of seafolk had to leave water altogether because of the Gwishin omnics and the other omnics down below. Climate change had already been having a bad effect on our numbers. Who knows how many died in the crisis, or the years after, unable to adapt. Seafolk especially. Folk like me and Ana were already accustomed to life on land, considering our lines came from ponds, lakes and rivers.”

He switches his attention to Jesse. “But you’re a seafolk. A siren. I didn’t see that coming.” He rubs his cheek, thoughtful. “Ana told me you don’t remember your family. You were really young when they passed, yeah?”

“I was eight when my pa died. Ma was already gone.” Jesse agrees, quiet. “I was about to turn ten when my older sister died, suddenly.” He rubs his arm as Jack, Gabe, and Genji all look at him like he’d grown a second head. He’d never mentioned her to anyone on base.

Not even Ana.

They don’t press, but Jack nods. “Did no one ever mention anything?” He asks, quiet.

“I thought they were just stories.” McCree mumbles, drawing all his energy to remember his sister. “But…they _were_ all about sirens. Not mermaids. Always sirens. But it was so long ago, I barely remember them at all.” He bunches his fists. “I remember that my sister said that sirens can change the hearts of men.” Jack nods, rubbing his neck.

“It’s important to give the talk when you can trust that the child can keep it secret.” He says, heavy. “And not have the change be compulsive. Your family must have moved to the desert for a reason.”

“Olivia suggested it was because my scream would have been able to break off California.” Jesse jokes, and Jack straightens, obviously putting it together.

“The earthquake was from _you_?” He says, flabbergasted.

Jesse defends himself with a particularly sharp, “I didn’t mean to!”

“That’s worse! Holy shit, Jesse,” Jack emphasizes with a dramatic shake of his hands. “How the _fuck_ ,” He paces for a long moment, rubbing his forehead. “Yeah. Yeah. That checks out. I was difficult enough as a child, and that was only because I was able to talk to frogs and snakes, brought them home to my patient human mother. Can’t imagine having a child knowing they’d be able to crack the earth’s mantle. Fareeha was scary enough, and we didn’t know who she’d take after.”

“You’re able to _what_ , boy scout?” Gabriel pipes in, and Jack gives a good guy smile like he was frankly a little embarrassed by it.

“Talk to other predators from my ecosystem that I didn’t eat. Snakes were always real boney. Frogs are too slimy. It wasn’t like- conversations with sentient beings. But it meant I was able to convince them to get in my bag to bring home to her. She was human, and she did know, but she also wasn’t a fan of the critters.” Jack laughs, quiet. “After I saw our forms, I told her she had to be lying about the critter thing. My old man found that funny.”

Silence falls over them, natural, as Gabriel rubs his forehead, blinking hard.

“What’s a mermaid’s kiss?” Genji eventually asks, and Jack looks to him like he’d forgotten Genji had been there.

“It’s- well,” Jack tilts his head back and forth, searching for the words. “Some would call it a gift, others a boon. The story my father told me was that once upon a time, a siren loved a fisherman that went back and forth to shore and sea. And one day, a storm called by the siren’s brothers and sisters tossed that fisherman overboard, and he drowned.

“The siren cried a million tears into the ocean, and begged the ocean to return the fisherman from the grave, and the ocean, weeping with her child, breathed the gift of life back into them- the same gift of life that bore the first merfolk. However, when the fisherman came to, they were horrified with the gift the siren gave. The fisherman killed the siren, and the ocean took back its gift.”

Genji frowns as he looks at Jesse and Gabe, and Jack shrugs. “The version Ana told Fareeha was a little more romantic, if equally as sad. The world’s first siren and the world’s first human were alone at the beginning. The human said to the siren, ‘come onto land with me,’ and the siren transformed. The human then showed the siren the beautiful grass, the trees, flowers, the animals and birds, and the warmth of another person beside you. They fell in love, wandering the empty world together. The siren returned to the sea, and said to the human, ‘come into the sea with me,” and the human got into the water, and the siren pulled them down to the depths, showing them the waves, the coral, and the sea life.

“But there was no warmth now. The siren turned back to find that the human had drowned, and the water was cold, and the siren was alone. The siren, regretting that they’d done such a thing, brought the human to the surface, and kissed as they’d done on land. The human revived, but they were weak, and couldn’t swim like the siren could. They hadn’t seen the beauty of the water, only the death it had brought them. The human was afraid of the siren and of death.

“The siren brought the human back to land, and left them there to recover, finding many more humans now, as the earth had replaced what they’d thought the ocean had stolen. The siren vowed never to let the humans see them again, to never let humans feel the cold of the waters below, vowing to remain alone forever as punishment. But the human, having become the first merfolk, wandered the ocean the rest of their life, never able to find the siren.”

Jack hums, before chuckling. “But those are just stories we were told as kids. Oftentimes before kids even know that they are merfolk. To introduce the idea that there were merfolk, and there were humans, and they were very similar but very different. The long and short of it is that it’s a power that some individuals have, but it’s very, very rare. The ability to bring a human back from a watery grave. One thing’s clear though; only sirens get to have it.” Jack sighs, a bit dramatic. “I thought that was completely bogus. All I got was the ability to talk to snakes and frogs. And some lucky fucks got to do that?”

“Stories are important.” Genji says thoughtfully, settling down besides Jesse. “That’s how my father introduced the dragons to us, though they were already bound to our souls, and would eventually be bound to our skin. I, too, was jealous. That others had what I thought was better. But my own had its quirks too.”

His dragon, desperately clinging to life with him, begging him to hold on just a bit longer, help was coming. Her tiny claws becoming more and more real as his existence faded and faded.

“Jesse’s powerful. But that’s a double edged sword.”

Jesse looks at him in awe, and Genji flushes a bit.

“The earthquake.” Jack nods, letting out his excitement. “And he was sick for a week after coming back here despite a lack of serious injuries. So was Gabe.” He sighs, quiet. “I hadn’t known. I understand why you didn’t come to me, McCree, but I can’t help but wish things had been different.” He splays his hands, quiet. “Gabriel did die, then, didn’t he?”

Jack looks to the man before him, and Jesse feels pinned by his gaze, Gabriel still regaining his strength.

“Yeah.” Jesse sobers at the memory of Gabriel’s lips turning blue after breathing out those final words Jesse heard from the ocean.

I’m sorry.

I love you.

“He did.” Jesse closes his eyes. “He was blasted into the water. Got pinned underneath some debris. If it hadn’t been for the other two mer, I wouldn’t have been able to get him out at all. But it was too late, by that point.” Jesse balls his hands into Gabriel’s drying hospital gown, the man making a noise of confusion.

“I died?” He asks, looking at Jesse with red eyes. “I can’t remember what happened.”

“Yeah, you did.” Jesse sighs, something crushing against his chest every time he says he wasn’t able to stop it- wasn’t fast enough, strong enough to protect Gabriel.

“But I’m back.” Gabriel murmurs, leaning into Jesse’s space. “Jesse… I was already dying. My treatment was putting it off. It’s okay. Drowning isn’t even a bad way to die.”

He rubs his head, making a small noise as he massages his temples. “I feel like dogshit. You and Jack n’ Ana are fuckin. Mermaids. I can breathe underwater now.” Red eyes look to him again. “This is weird. All of it. But that can’t be helped. SEP did weirder things to me, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t know Gabe.” Jack nudges him carefully. “You might be tempting fate. You might wind up with tentacles yet.”

Genji rubs his head, and Jesse gives a knowing nod as the man looked to him for confirmation that such a thing existed. A smoke tendril wisped off Gabriel’s arm, and lightly smacked him, as though reminding him that the SEP had beat it to that.

“I have to say, quickly, that I might have paged people when I woke up after you and Genji stole Gabe from the medbay.” Jack admits, sheepish. “So, we need to get him back.”

Gabriel makes a noise of disapproval, but Jesse looks to Genji, and stands with Gabriel in his arms, setting him down.

“They’re gonna have questions.” Jesse mutters, and Jack waves a hand, easy going.

“We can answer them. I’ll take the lead. They’ll want Gabriel back in that bed for the night, but after that you and I are going to have to have a discussion about how to go forward.” Jack assesses, quickly. “It’ll be one off the records, Commander McCree.”

XXXXX

It all happens quicker than McCree can really get his head around it.

Jack’s a merman, Gabriel is alright and in recovery, albeit a bit dazed, and Genji is in his bedroom with him after it all shook out, Angela having pushed them out of the office but letting Jack stay because he was the Strike Commander.

“Wait a tick!” Jesse yells as he realizes it. “I’m the Commander of Blackwatch! _I_ outrank her now! She can’t _make_ me leave anymore!” He folds his arms in displeasure as Genji laughs at his belated outrage, shaking his head.

“That’s enough, McCree.” He puts a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “Help me dry off my legs.”

Jesse looks over his shoulder, and his agitated stance drops, shoulders relaxing as he turns to face Genji fully.

The mask is gone again, and brown eyes find his own. 

“Oh,” Jesse runs a hand through almost dry hair, and nods, feeling a bit silly for his outburst. The two of them were alone in Jesse’s quarters- which hadn’t even had it’s bed remade from where he’d last moved to Gibraltar.

Genji sat on the mattress, and looked up at him, giving him permission, leaning over and clicking a few things. “Grab a towel from the bathroom, please.”

“Yeah,” He agreed quickly, heading over to raid his bathroom storage, coming back victoriously with a black towel that still smelled like the floors laundry machine detergent.

He flips on the lights as he walked by, and Genji made a noise as the room was lit up fully. “You’ve not unpacked anything yet?” Genji asks, though the answer is obvious. Jesse snorts.

“Course not. The couch in G- _my_ office has been a longtime favorite anyway.” He waves a hand. “Guess I’ll have to, now.” He laughs a bit, sheepish at being caught. “I really am as bad as Gabe, aren’t I?”

“I actually hadn’t pinned you as someone to pack up your things every time you swap base.” Genji remarks, and Jesse huffs as he rejoins Genji at the bed, sliding off a prosthetic carefully, Genji watching him with wide eyes.

“When I was younger, Gabriel and I would ship out frequently. Blackwatch was much smaller back then.” He speaks just to fill the air, feeling the instant tension that came with taking off a piece of Genji’s body, even as he delicately got where Genji can’t easily, while Genji dries of where he can. “So I had to pack my shit up, ‘cause if I didn’t, by the time I got to the third or fourth location that month, I didn’t have any bed sheets or spare clothes. Learned that lesson the hard way, as Ana explained it. Two sets of stuff were plenty. Granted, after Rome’s explosion, I was left with only one set of stuff, so I had to go out shopping anyways.”

“But now you’ve been the second in command, and now the full Commander, surely, you would have realized that you’ll just have to unpack the things you packed up without them ever being moved, right?”

“Old habits, I guess.” Jesse says, helping Genji reattach the leg, letting Genji breathe a moment, before he removes the other.

It is a bit of an impulse, but once Genji removes the prosthetic, Jesse leans over and gently kisses his kneecap, glancing up at him with soft eyes, as the tension seems to melt out of Genji.

“Sap.” Genji mutters, and Jesse gives him a crooked grin.

“Maybe.” He hums, rubbing at the remaining skin. 

It isn’t fair, Genji thinks. That Jesse at his most inhuman is a god beneath waves, primordial and living legend, but Genji is metal and electricity and like a sword, which had cut McCree a hundred times before but the man still put himself so close.

It isn’t fair, that sitting here, Jesse looking up at him in adoration, sharing the space with him, Jesse is painfully human and he is not. Jesse is his rock, and yet he can be so soft. Jesse contains multitudes, and Genji contains wiring and plastic and silicone and metal.

Jesse is tender with him, helps put him back together; the exact same way he’d done before.

XXXXX

_He doesn’t know how long he’s lied there. Doesn’t know how long it’d been since Hanzo had left. Ran off, coated in blood, sword abandoned. Brother abandoned._

_Cut down, wings trimmed. His dragon desperately clinging to him, tiny claws the only thing holding him together, becoming more and more real as he faded from this world._

_Doesn’t know how long he had left. Brown eyes stared at beige ceiling. This part of the castle was so damn cold. He shudders a breath, in, and out, and time drips on like blood drips out of him. Sludge like._

_Is this what death was? Cold? Lonely?_

_Was this what his father felt? Sojiro hadn’t been perfect but something in Genji loved him even now in the only way he could just as Sojiro had loved him in that same broken sense. Father, help me. He was too weak to cry out; too weak to do anything but lay there like broken glass._

_Footsteps. Whoever had been sent in after Hanzo to make sure the work was done. Maybe to just clean him up like any other kill. Blood and guts and bones and the floor to clean up and scrub away this darkness back to sanitized normality where Sojiro only had one son._

_Instead a swear- colorful and loud- greets his ears. “Oh Jesus fuck, oh shit. Shimada, Genji.” It’s Agent McCree, his contact with Blackwatch._

_The man who’d been his way out of the clan; the handsome man in a ramen shop, delightfully out of place, who he’d delighted himself with. And then came the revelation that McCree had more they could offer him with. He hadn’t ever wanted to be an assassin, and with his father dead, things were getting sketchy. He was supposed to be the heir alongside Hanzo._

_He can’t even say anything to him. Nothing to let him know he is still alive._

_The spurs click alongside him as McCree paces around him. “Commander. Contact’s dead.” He says, terse. “Yeah. Wound up being the brother. They must have moved plans up faster when they suspected something was wrong.”_

_His life- and what ends it- sound so clinical when laid out like that._

_He can’t move, can barely breath. His own blood is pooled around him. His limbs- what he could still feel- are hardly responsive._

_Do something, his dragon begs him, her tiny claws clinging to his skin. Genji, I will not be losing you yet._

_“Yeah, I know. In and out. I just…they just left him, Gabe. Can I bury him at least?”_

_He can’t move._

_You can. You must._

_McCree’s pacing leaves him by Genji’s hand, the one he can still, sort of, feel._

_The motion hurts almost as much as each time Hanzo’s sword cut through him, the fight badly in Hanzo’s favor after his elder brother cut him down from behind, but he shifts, and his hand grips tight to the man’s idiotic costume that gives him just enough to hold onto. And when McCree goes to pace again, obviously gearing up for an argument with ‘Gabe,’ the fabric is tugged from Genji’s grasp, and he just has to hope that McCree noticed._

_If the way the man pauses, freezes, and looks down at the mangled not quite corpse on the floor has anything to say about it, it seems he did._

_“Gabe, Gabe, shut up okay, oh fuck. You ain’t gonna believe this. Report for this is gonna need to be redacted to cheese.” Jesse says. “Call the Doc. Get Overwatch’s medical team ready, we’re gonna be coming in hot and messy.”_

_The innuendo would have made Genji laugh only hours ago, but Jesse is just tearing off his cape and shoving the comm away, using the fabric to buy him time, the man’s skin warm against his own._

_“You lucky bastard, I’ve got you, don’t die on me yet, okay?”_

_19 hours after arrival in Zurich, Genji was stable enough to live, but it was no life as compared to what his brother stole. Locked to machines, his systems failing. And then Gabe had made his inglorious appearance, expression grim, with Angela- the pretty doctor beside him._

_After a long heavy series of conversations over the course of days, about what he wanted, what he could get, and what those two things entailed with the damage leftover from his brother’s assassination attempt._

_So he had to spend another 21 hours in surgery for him to have the ability to walk again._

_McCree had ruined his bad mood when he’d come in with a balloon stuffed bear that said, “I’m sorry your brother almost killed you.” Angela rather obviously thought it was insensitive, her expression crumpled, but Reyes had pat Jesse roughly on the shoulder on his way in._

_With a voice no longer his own, Genji had rasped. “What kind of cheese was my report?”_

_“You’d think Swiss, given how many holes I had to cut out, but it wound up being a lot more solid, far more stinky, with how much shit I had to stuff in it.” McCree picked up without dropping anything. “So, you made it here, lucky thing you are. Welcome to Zurich. Once you recover, we’ll be welcoming you to Blackwatch.”_

_“I wouldn’t call me lucky,” Genji pointed out, mood souring slightly._

_“The situation? Naw, its rotten through and through.” Jesse agreed. “Having the chance to get what you’re owed, though? That is lucky. You’ll give em what they have coming for this, we’ll make sure of that. That’s what Blackwatch is for.”_

XXXXX

Once Jesse has finished with his legs, Genji takes them back, and sets them nearby. It’s more comfortable to sleep without them on, but the gnawing anxiety usually keeps them on in the night.

McCree settles on the other side of the bed, a comfort that eases that, somewhat, and Genji rolls over, to look at him, curiosity now in him, now that they were alone, in private.

“So, you have a sister.”

“Had.” Jesse’s voice is tense at the question, this part of his life more tender than most others. “She’s…been gone a while now.”

“I’m…sorry.” Genji takes the cue; he’s meant to tread lightly. “What was… her name?”

Jesse doesn’t answer, and his expression crumbles, pulling the covers up as though looking for something to hide behind. “It…started with an A.” He awkwardly says, and Genji feels something vicious rise up in his throat. “Remember- oh, wait, you weren’t part of…Blackwatch yet.” He gives a crooked grin, self-deprecating.

“Well, when I was 21, there was a mission in Panama that went completely tits up. It wasn't Rialto bad, but Reyes and I were caught in a collapsing building after a bombing. Reyes had to pull me out. I was pretty fucked up, Angela could tell you all about it. But, wait.” He shakes his head. “ _She_ wasn’t part of Overwatch yet, either. Anyway, you can prolly guess where this was going.” He waves a hand, obviously trying to shake off any upset preemptively.

Genji can guess, too. It makes this hard to watch. He reaches out his hand, and lays it on Jesse’s waist, rubbing soft circles into skin, the night their only cover.

“I had a pretty nasty head injury. Reyes took me off the field for three months. I don’t actually remember much about it. Deadlock stayed, Overwatch _mostly_ stayed. Sometimes the details are fuzzy. Missing memories, misplaced people. But now, whenever I try to think about my folks… I can’t see their faces, or remember their names, I know they’re dead, and they’ve been dead for a long time, but…they used to be there, and now they’re not. It’s actually really fucked up, but sometimes, when I think of my sister, I see Ana, or Angela, or Ashe in her place. So her name started with an A. And she used to tell me stories. And I don’t remember how or why she died.”

Guilt, then, because that was another thing he and Jesse shared. Yet another thing he’d shoved him out for.

The words rattle in his head, remembering Jesse and him talking about the monster that made him like this. Talking siblings.

 _How would you know, you’re an only child_.

It hadn’t been an unlikely statement, but rather a statistical likelihood. Most people born in his and Jesse’s generation were only children. Genji was an exception, not a rule.

Jesse had never corrected him, and Genji’s anger turned him from a rock to jagged blade, as Genji carved him with his own anger. Things were better, now, Genji knew, as he lay in bed with Jesse, hidden in that warmth, covered by the night.

“Remembering things you don’t remember,” He says, soft. “Knowing something is just beyond your reach. It…it’s a unique pain.” He touches his own temple. “It’s funny, Jesse. I know we met in a ramen shop. I know you were handsome and we fucked in one of the local arcade’s party rooms. But, I don’t remember what you said to me, or how that evolved into me being an informant, and later, an agent.”

McCree’s eyes are wide, curious now as well, pain being forgotten as he moved to reciprocate Genji’s touch. “You approached me when you clocked that I wasn’t as innocent as I looked.” He explained, and that does sound like something he’d do. He can imagine it, him, resplendent on Jesse’s cock, seeing his gun, his handsomeness, an American cowboy in Hanamura, and asking him why he was truly there.

“Did we fuck first or…?”

“You asked if I was someone who was interested in mutual favors.” Jesse recounted, hand stroking Genji’s skin. “It was a little stilted. I was interested, and I was there to get a favor from you, or your brother. Maybe another relative. I was told to look out for signals from anyone who might want something other than the family.”

“Reyes, right?” Genji realizes, quietly.

“It was a mission.” Jesse agrees. “You became my contact.” His hand settles as it reaches Genji’s, and squeezes Genji’s hand tight in his own. “You wanted out of there, and I told you that, yeah, we could arrange a few things.”

Genji curls toward Jesse, the base eerily quiet. It’s strange, to know this history and yet, not know it. To be here with Jesse now, their foundations missing from his mind, to know that part of the chasm had been this problem.

And Jesse was right. He could have understood, if Genji had talked with him. Now he knows other things were just beyond his reach. The ability to change the past, to go back, try again.

He could have been in this bed sooner, he thinks, closing his eyes as Jesse strokes his hair, a soft tuft that were typically hidden behind the helmet.

Genji can’t even find it within himself to hate himself for taking it, finally, for himself.

“We can make new memories.” Genji tells Jesse, softly, instead of whispering soft words he knew were true in the depths in his mechanical heart.

_I love you._

**Author's Note:**

> So like, i wanted to write a sequel back in august 2019. I began working on this version of opening that can of worms in march of 2020 hoping to maybe get it in for mermay 2020, but uh
> 
> well. I think we all know what happened in march of 2020. But! I have been working in this verse, and thats hopefully promising? originally this was gonna be a prologue for that proper sequel I've been thinking on, but uh, it sort of got really far away from me. I might do a couple of smaller oneshots (including the date I've been putting off writing!) when I have time available to write. 
> 
> I hope you all liked this, pls let me know what you think! im @harmicist on twitter!


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